Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute has graciously offered UCI and the greater community daily opportunities to practice mindfulness for roughly two years
A consistent mindfulness practice has improved mental and physical well-being of community members and have transformed lives (please see Testimonials section below)
As a data scientist, I have been curious about how the mindfulness community has evolved over time
To gather data for this passion project, I have been monitoring attendance at SSIHI mindfulness community classes since April of 2021
The data only contain aggregated summary statistics and anonymity of individual participants is strictly protected
Using the data I have collected, I wanted to take the opportunity to show how the community has stayed consistent in number throughout the length of the program
Moreover, individual engagement during community meditation has always been relatively high despite the format being virtual meetings through Zoom
Data indicate that the mindfulness community is evolving; the percentage of male participants has been steadily increasing
The small class size encourages active participation by community members
Finally, community members shared their thoughts on how the weekday mindfulness practice has positively impacted their lives
Figure 1 shows that the number of participants at community meditation classes has been consistent over time
The spike in attendance during the summer of 2021 (2021-Q3) is most likely due to the pilot employee well-being program that temporarily allowed participation from employees of other UC campuses
Whether a participant has their camera on during a virtual meditation class may indicate greater engagement, comfort and willingness to share
Figure 2 shows that the percentage of participation with camera on has remained relatively stable across time
On average, 67% of participants turn their camera on during community meditation classes
This is much higher than the average percentage of participation with camera on at community yoga for well-being classes, which is at 20%
Figure 3 shows that smaller class sizes are correlated with higher percentages of participants taking part in some form of community engagement
The three forms of community engagement considered are: turning the camera on (“Camera”), commenting in the chat window and/or asking questions after class (“Chat”), and sharing their experience about the meditation practice (“Share”)
This indicates that smaller group settings may encourage more active engagement by participants
Smaller classes may lead to a higher quality of meditation practice and greater community engagement
It is a well-known trend that community meditation classes attract more women than men
Figure 4 suggests that the percentage of male participants has been steadily increasing over time
The average percentage of male participants increased from 18% to 27% in 1.5 years
Figure 5 indicates that community meditation attendance is highest on Mondays and lowest on Wednesdays
Days of the week with the highest attendance numbers are Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays
Note that meditation classes take place at noon on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays; and at 5pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays